Trump leans into ICE for Chicago crackdown

Related video: Ill. Rep. Brad Schneider QUESTIONS Trump’s THREATS Against Chicago, Immigration CRACKDOWN | SUNRISE

Morning Report is The Hill’s a.m. newsletter. Subscribe here.

In today’s issue:

▪ ICE, Trump’s crime policy blow into Chicago

▪ House panel unveils Epstein files, letter

▪ Candidates to watch in Virginia special election

▪ Israel launches Gaza City takeover

President Trump is ramping up immigration enforcement operations in Chicago and other areas as a way to target crime in major cities his administration has sought to paint as urban hellscapes.

The immigration enforcement has so far stopped short of the type of widespread federal policing that the president has floated. But a Supreme Court ruling Monday gives the administration wider latitude to conduct immigration stops as it targets “criminal illegal aliens.”

National Guard troops have not been deployed to the Windy City, and there are serious legal questions posed by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) and others about whether the president could legally send troops to federalize law enforcement in the country’s third-largest city. 

“We’d love to go into Chicago and straighten it out,” Trump said Monday during an event in Washington. “We’re waiting for a call from Chicago.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been in Chicago for weeks rounding up migrants accused of being in the country illegally. The administration on Monday branded the enforcement effort “Operation Midway Blitz.”

Pritzker, a possible 2028 presidential contender who has blasted the president as a “wannabe dictator,” said his administration is ready to fight Trump in court if federal operations move beyond law enforcement personnel to include troops. 

The administration said the federal crackdown in Chicago “honors” Katie Abraham, 20, of Illinois, who was killed when her vehicle allegedly was rear-ended by a vehicle authorities said was driven by Julio Cucul-Bol of Guatemala, a migrant without legal status. 

Trump deployed National Guard members and Marines to Los Angeles in June for immigration enforcement and placed the guard around national monuments and other sites in Washington, D.C., in August after federalizing the District’s police force.

In Boston, the Department of Homeland Security on Monday signaled it plans to escalate its immigration enforcement push there, dubbing it “Operation Patriot 2.0.” The administration last week sued Boston and Mayor Michelle Wu (D) over allegedly releasing migrants subject to federal deportation.

Trump is challenging prominent Democratic mayors and governors with headline-grabbing rhetoric about crime, boasting of near-instant success in “cleaning up” selected cities while seeking broader authority from the nation’s highest court for immigration raids.

▪ The Hill: California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) walks a tightrope on crime as he seeks to counter Trump. 

▪ The Hill: A Supreme Court ruling Monday buttressed Trump’s immigration ramp-up. 

The Supreme Court, in an emergency order issued on Monday, handed the administration a victory by blocking a federal judge’s ruling that restricted federal immigration stops in the Los Angeles area. The roving ICE raids in the Golden State passed muster with the conservative-majority court, while the court’s three liberal justices dissented.

“We should not have to live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job,” wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor. “Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent.” 

Within hours, the administration christened the immigration offensive in Chicago using a social-media-ready moniker, “Midway Blitz,” reminiscent of “Cornhusker Clink” and “Alligator Alcatraz,” new migrant detention facilities located respectively in Nebraska and Florida.

Republicans in Congress have said little publicly about Trump’s Windy City offensive, which the president previewed on social media over the weekend with references to “War,” which he later softened when questioned by reporters. The GOP in red states have begun policing some of their own blue cities.

Chicago on Monday kicked off a new tourism and marketing campaign, “All for the Love of Chicago,” with Instagram and TikTok in mind to encourage residents to help take back “our city’s story.”

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Smart Take with Blake Burman

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a surprise visit to Puerto Rico on Monday as the United States continues to send military assets into the Caribbean. The appearance also came just days after the military took out a boat off the coast of Venezuela that President Trump says was carrying narco-terrorists.

I spoke with James Story, the president’s former ambassador to Venezuela in his first term.   

“We certainly had all options on the table, a maximum pressure campaign under the first administration of Trump. This is that, with a little additional assets. It’s certainly pretty heavy for counter narcotics,” Story said.

Military assets on the move and a surprise visit from Hegseth. A big message is being sent to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. 

Burman hosts “The Hill” weeknights, 6p/5c on NewsNation.

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3 Things to Know Today

1. Look for Bureau of Labor Statistics revisions today to jobs data through March. The White House is preparing to release a report critical of the agency after the president fired its head last month.

2. The national median home listing price rose slightly in July, but some metro areas in the South and West saw a decline, signaling a reversal in the power dynamic between buyers and sellers.

3. The Murdoch family settled a legal succession fight involving three children and son Lachlan Murdoch will take control. The $3.3 billion deal ensures a media empire built by Rupert Murdoch, 94, retains its conservative viewpoint.

Leading the Day

EPSTEIN FILES: Jeffrey Epstein‘s estate on Monday turned over a tranche of documents subpoenaed by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, including at least one purporting to show a close relationship between the convicted sex offender and Trump before he entered politics.

Democrats on the Oversight panel swiftly released the image and message Trump allegedly wrote as a birthday present to Epstein in 2003, revealing a drawing the White House has denied existed. The Wall Street Journal reported in July that Trump had written the salacious letter to Epstein as a 50th birthday gift. Trump denied writing the letter and later sued the publication. (See the letter here.)

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) accused Trump of engaging in a cover-up.

“This note, Donald Trump has said does not exist,” Garcia said in a video message shortly after releasing the image. “Well, once again, he is lying to the American public and is leading a White House cover-up.”

Lawmakers also expect to receive some of the other documents for which the committee’s chair, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), subpoenaed the estate. Later this week, a bipartisan group of lawyers on the committee is expected to visit the estate offices in New York City to view unredacted documents, including the unredacted version of the birthday book and other files like flight and phone logs. 

BACKTRACK: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) sought to clarify Monday his comments that spread widely last week about Trump being an “FBI informant” against Epstein, suggesting he misspoke about the president’s efforts to assist law enforcement as it investigated the wealthy financier.

“I don’t know if I used the right word,” Johnson told reporters Monday. “I said, ‘FBI informant’ but I’m not sure. I wasn’t there — this isn’t my lane.”

Johnson told CNN’s Manu Raju on Friday that Trump “was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down,” referring to the president’s documented past friendship with Epstein and their eventual falling-out nearly two decades ago.

The term “informant” is an official designation given to sources who provide confidential information to the FBI.

SHUTDOWN CLOCK: Republican lawmakers are urging Trump to avoid a government shutdown by taking a reasonable approach and backing a clean short-term funding resolution, even though there might be an array of controversial MAGA priorities Trump may attach to a funding package. The House will move first on a stopgap measure, and Johnson has only a few weeks left to unveil his proposal as Congress will be out the week of Sept. 22 in observance of Rosh Hashanah.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said Monday it would make sense for the White House to keep its requests for “anomalies” in the funding deal to a minimum.  

“If you want to make it about trying to get an extension so we actually have time to try and run a normal appropriations process and get some of the bills passed under regular order, then I think you want to have it as clean as possible,” Thune said of the stopgap Congress needs to pass by Sept. 30 to avoid a shutdown.

Lawmakers are already laying the groundwork for who to blame in the event of a government shutdown, with members increasingly trading insults and pointing fingers.

▪ The Hill: Senate Republicans on Monday got the ball rolling on their bid to invoke the so-called “nuclear option” and change the chamber’s rules to expeditiously confirm dozens of Trump’s stalled nominees.

▪ The Hill: The Senate is expected to ramp up efforts this month to pass a bill delineating oversight of the crypto market — the crown jewel of digital asset legislation. But the path ahead is unlikely to be smooth sailing.

▪ The Hill: Internal GOP pressure is mounting on Johnson to extend expiring Obamacare tax credits.

FOREIGN AID: The administration on Monday asked the Supreme Court for an emergency order to keep frozen some foreign aid that Congress already approved. The White House has said it wants to withhold $4 billion in foreign aid but will spend another $6.5 billion that Congress appropriated. 

The ask lands before a court that has increasingly issued emergency rulings favoring Trump with scant explanation, writes The Hill’s Zach Schonfeld. 

The move is sparking increasing debate among lower judges — and even the justices themselves. Several of the justices have long defended emergency decisions as necessary to avoid a “lock-in” effect in a case’s early stages. But the Trump administration’s staggering flood of emergency appeals — 24 and counting — has put the practice in the limelight.

▪ The Hill: The Supreme Court on Monday allowed Trump to fire a member of the Federal Trade Commission despite a federal law that is intended to restrict the White House’s power to control the agency. 

▪ The Hill: On Monday, an appeals court upheld writer E. Jean Carroll’s $83 million defamation judgment against Trump. Trump is preparing to escalate the case to the Supreme Court.

▪ The Hill: A federal appeals court panel on Monday ruled against Democratic attorneys general who sued the Trump administration over its mass firings of probationary employees.

‘PUNCH YOU IN THE F—ING FACE’: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened to punch Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte during a heated confrontation at a private dinner attended by administration officials and close Trump advisers, Politico reported.

The New York Times reports that half a dozen Cabinet members were in attendance at the kickoff for the MAGA-friendly Executive Branch club in D.C.

Bessent reportedly confronted Pulte after hearing from several people that Pulte had been badmouthing him to Trump.

It’s not the first time Bessent has confronted a colleague. First-term presidential adviser Steve Bannon said the Treasury secretary and Elon Musk had a verbal confrontation that turned into a scuffle earlier this year.

Musk shared the Politico story on social media Monday, writing: “Hmm.”

When & Where

The House and Senate will meet at 10 a.m.

The White House daily briefing is scheduled at 1 p.m. 

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee at 2 p.m. will hold a hearing focused on “Better meals, fewer pills: Making our children healthy again.”

The president will participate at 4 p.m. in a swearing-in ceremony featuring U.S. Ambassador to Portugal John Arrigo. Trump will sign a proclamation at 4:30 p.m. in the Oval Office.

Zoom In

BELLWETHER: Virginia voters will head to the polls today to choose a replacement for the late Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) in the special election for the commonwealth’s 11th Congressional District. 

Democratic candidate James Walkinshaw, who was Connolly’s former chief of staff and Fairfax County supervisor, is facing off against Republican Stewart Whitson, an army veteran and former FBI special agent. The seat was vacated in May after Connolly died following a battle with cancer. Walkinshaw is the favorite in a reliably blue district. 

The Hill’s Julia Manchester breaks down what to watch.

CHATBOT SAFETY: Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) alleged in a Monday letter that tech giant Meta ignored warnings about its chatbots and urged Meta “to no longer allow minors to access AI chatbots on its platforms.”

“I write today urging Meta to no longer allow minors to access AI chatbots on its platforms due to alarming recent reporting regarding Meta’s AI chatbot standards and the limited evidence about AI chatbots’ effect on younger users,” Markey said in his letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers recently seized on revelations about “sensual” chatbot conversations Meta considered acceptable for children, returning the tech giant and its shaky past on children’s safety back to the spotlight.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, of which Markey is a member, will hold a hearing today following whistleblower allegations that Meta buried child safety research.

▪ The Guardian: The unforeseen impact of chatbots on mental health should be viewed as a warning over the existential threat posed by AI, experts say.

POLITICS AND EDUCATION: Trump announced in Monday remarks at a meeting of his administration’s Religious Liberty Commission that the Department of Education would issue new guidance “protecting the right to prayer in our public schools.”

Prayer in public school has come up repeatedly in legal cases over the years, including during a high-profile case in 2023 in which the Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled in favor of a high school football coach who was reprimanded for leading postgame prayers on the field’s 50-yard line.

The Biden administration issued new guidance that stated school employees could engage in prayer during the workday but could not compel students to join in prayer or other religious activity.

▪ The Hill: Trump leans on a religious group for top faith-based policies.

Elsewhere

INCURSION: Israel has issued evacuation notices for Gaza City, telling residents to leave immediately after warning that it would step up airstrikes and ground operations. The government described the offensive in Gaza as a “mighty hurricane” if Hamas does not free the last hostages and surrender. 

The Israeli military said Monday that it demolished a 12-story office building in Gaza City. Over the past several days, Israel has destroyed multiple high-rise buildings in the city, warning that Hamas has installed surveillance infrastructure in them.

▪ Axios: Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, joined White House envoy Steve Witkoff for a meeting on Monday in Miami with top Israeli adviser Ron Dermer.

▪ BBC: Hamas says it has received “some ideas” from the U.S. on how to reach a Gaza ceasefire.

NIGHTLY BOMBARDMENT: Russia attacked a thermal power plant in the Kyiv region earlier this week, as Moscow continued its long-range, cross-border barrages despite Trump expressing his frustration at such strikes.

Trump — who returned to the White House vowing to end Russia’s invasion — told reporters he was “not happy about the whole situation.”

“I am not thrilled with what’s happening there, I will tell you,” he continued. “I think it’s going to get settled. So, I settled seven wars. This I would’ve said would’ve been maybe the easiest one to settle of all. But with war, you never know what you’re getting.”

The timing of Russia’s strikes is deliberate, analysts told The New York Times. Their goal is to strengthen Moscow’s hand in peace talks. So far, the Kremlin has been subject to no additional U.S. sanctions as it escalates its attacks.

▪ CNN analysis: Trump’s misreading of Russia has cost Ukraine. Now Putin is making his intentions clearer than ever.

▪ The Washington Post: Russia bombs Ukraine almost every night. This is what it sounds like.

OUSTER: The French government was thrown into turmoil Monday as lawmakers fired the prime minister, François Bayrou, the latest leader tossed out by a deeply divided legislature. Parliamentarians on all sides of the political spectrum are unhappy about his proposal to make drastic cuts to next year’s budget, an unpopular attempt to resolve France’s economic woes.

Opinion

The National Guard isn’t what we need, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) writes in The New York Times.

Will America survive another 250 years? by Harlan Ullman, opinion contributor, The Hill.

The Closer

And finally … 🎸 He ain’t nothing but a hound dog!

On this day in 1956, 21-year-old Elvis Presley made his first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” performing songs including “Hound Dog,” “Love Me Tender” and “Don’t Be Cruel.”

Viewers got a head-to-toe look at the singer, who would later be crowned the “King of Rock and Roll” despite fears of his “vulgar” hip-shaking gyrations. To cheers from the crowd, Presley told the audience that performing on the show was “probably the greatest honor I have ever had in my life.”

Watch Presley sing “Hound Dog” in that first television performance.